Cafe Olio

PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
A popular budget hotel with overseas travellers, The Cavenagh comes complete with a suite of relatively luxurious backpacker facilities; a bottle shop, a sparkling pool and a lively, occasionally throbbing bar and gaming lounge - also quite popular with the locals. Partied-out punters needn’t go far for relaxation; attached to the bar is Cafe Olio, a large, shady alfresco eatery billed as a Mediterranean cafe. Burgundy armchairs and bar stools are arranged on the covered timber decking overlooking the pool, with street-side tables sheltered by umbrellas, pot plants and palm trees.

In addition to the ubiquitous beer-battered fish, pizza and nachos, Olio competently dishes up casual Mediterranean fare, offering plenty of variety for both snacking and dining. Among a selection of pastas there’s penne with Napoli sauce, grilled chorizo, fetta and Kalamata olives, and spaghetti tossed with gorgeous South Australian pippies, olive oil, garlic, chilli and continental parsley. Meat-lovers could opt for the chargrilled lamb back-strap with cumin crust, served on a bed of roasted potatoes, wilted spinach, baba ganoush and finished with tzatziki. Seafood includes black mussels swimming in a luscious white wine and cream sauce with garlic, spring onions and crusty ciabatta bread, or local calamari encrusted in cracked Szechuan peppercorns and birds-eye chillies, served with mango mayonnaise.

Fiona Davies